Mal Moore 'could do it all,' Joe Namath says of his former backup quarterback at Alabama

View full sizeJoe Namath, left, speaks with other former Alabama football players Thursday following the funeral service for Mal Moore, who served Alabama as a player, assistant coach and administrator. (Tuscaloosa Bureau/Don Kausler Jr.)

He waited patiently for an opportunity to start and hoped to get it as a fifth-year senior in 1962, but that was when Joe Namath became eligible to play as a sophomore. Otherwise. ...

"I could have become 'Broadway Mal,'" Moore would say. He would hold his thumb and forefinger close together said say, "Namath beat me out by that much."

"Broadway Joe" was among the Who's Who of former Alabama football players who came to Moore's private funeral Thursday morning at Calvary Baptist Church, one deep pass down Paul W. Bryant Drive from Bryant-Denny Stadium. Moore, 73, died Saturday.

After the service in the packed church, Namath paid homage to his former teammate.

"I've known him since 1961 on," said the member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "I always looked up to him. Everybody who knew Mal learned to love him."

Namath said he heard Moore tell the "Broadway Mal" story "on several occasions." Was it ever a guilt trip for the former New York Jets star?

"No guilt trip," said Namath, who came to Alabama from Beaver Falls, Pa. "Heck, he helped me. He tutored me. We worked together."

Moore always was the first one to say that he didn't accomplish much individually as a player, but Namath wants the truth to be known.

"Mal could do it all, I promise you," Namath said. "He was smart, he could throw, and he could run. And he had the heart.

"I think the only edge I had was a little quickness. My feet might have been a little quicker."

Alabama will hold a "Celebration of Life" public memorial service at 3 p.m. CDT Thursday at Coleman Coliseum.